Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

That bar on the right pivots up and locks like this. A 15' extendable painting pole attaches to the top of that for our flag pole.
Im also planning to make a 3' circular platform that attaches about 2' down from the top of the steel pole for a crows nest with a rope ladder going up to it.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Not sure this is innovative, but I have an 8x8 canopy purchased from Walmart a few years ago but need some side shade. I bought an Ikea canopy today and some reed fencing from Home Depot. total cost: ~$60. The reed fencing is to provide some stability for the canopy, which will be on the side (not the top). I'm hoping the wind won't blow the canopy around during the night if it's backed by the fencing. The canopy has 95% UV protection so even though it's white, should provide some shade.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Greg since no one replied, I am taking a guess and say we can build your truss. Let's spend like 1k on solar panels and bring your whole lighting set up too while we're at it!

Ok, now you need to figure out how to get 80amps of power.. probably going to be a lot more than 1k of Solar Panels.. Going to try and steal power from the Windmills in Palm Springs.. Gotta find a 30 mile heavy duty extension cord.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

For that kind of power you most economical option is a power inverter hooked up to your most fuel efficient vehicle and leave it running when in use. Or a quiet compact generator like the honda ones.

We are going to be using deep cycle batteries with a solar float charger that will keep them from running down too low and then just have our power inverter hooked up to those. That way we don't have to waste tons of gas running a vehicle and we don't have to breathe exhaust fumes all weekend. Should work great, solar charger will charge during the day and we can party at night!

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."
Ray Charles

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Originally Posted by SeantheJeweler

We are going to be using deep cycle batteries with a solar float charger that will keep them from running down too low and then just have our power inverter hooked up to those. That way we don't have to waste tons of gas running a vehicle and we don't have to breathe exhaust fumes all weekend. Should work great, solar charger will charge during the day and we can party at night!

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

I removed the shower head from my solar shower, used a barbed hydro connection to attach 1" hydro hose to hydro pump 360gph. Dropped that into a 55 gallon drum. Light dimmer for pressure regulated pump.
Kiddie pool underneath. 2x4 strapped to luggage rack. Tarp attached to 2x4 and canopy for a shower curtain.

Serious shit.

More serious than me, but I used the hose attachment (spray nossle) that is really supposed to be used for my mister system, and I had a pressurized shower. And I was spraying down individuals from the epic dirty crew too, ha.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

This is just the basic structure but I'm going to use some rope/string to keep the sides from sagging in and then use more string to keep everything secured on the sides and top. I have a canopy that will fit over this nicely at night for extra sun protection and privacy.

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Originally Posted by Goatchella

How many batteries you have?
How many amp hours is each battery?

We have 3 of them, one is brand new others aren't but as long as you don't run deep cycle batteries down past half way dead too often they will last a long time. I have an 800 watt inverter so that will give me plenty of power and I got this thing after reading the ridiculously good reviews it got, haven't been able to test it out but if it doesn't work well I will return it as well as the new battery I bought comes with a year free replacement warranty If it works like it should it will keep those batteries charged during the day and then we will have power at night.

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."
Ray Charles

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

You guys don't fuck around, do you? As much as I miss seeing the Volcano of years past, I'm really looking forward to seeing some of these setups as I'm meandering around the campgrounds. We may have camped near jankypirate the year before last and it made finding our tent easy...this year I hope it ends up as a marker as well.

Originally Posted by instinct

Ok, now you need to figure out how to get 80amps of power.. probably going to be a lot more than 1k of Solar Panels.. Going to try and steal power from the Windmills in Palm Springs.. Gotta find a 30 mile heavy duty extension cord.

Why bother with the 30 mile cord that you'd have to wind around Palm Desert and then weave through Cathedral City, when you could get by with a mile long cord and plug it in at my house down the street? I know if I find one I'll be all over it! lol

Originally Posted by Goatchella

Nice. Good luck man.

Speaking of luck... My plans seem to be forever changing this year, so I'm still working on the silly little details. I figured I better do a practice run to make sure all the posts and pole for my teepee tent were there. Can't say I really have a theme, but with the right drugs I'm sure passersby will see something in the setup... Last year's inverter took a shit when I loaned it to a neighbor the first night, but since we lived close, another was available the next day. Not sure to have that this year and the replacement I got is only a 400 watt. Will it be able to handle a few rope lights and the stinger I use for my coffee in the a.m.? If not, I may have to make another "needs run" soon.

these posts have been going well down with some gin and Fizzy Lizzy raspberry lemon.
GETBETTER

Quick question, has anyone else here actually held a fetus? They're not very cute.
KORY

Re: Camp Site Innovations Thread

Picked up a 170W BP (made in America) solar panel on eBay for $185. The guys still has some, just search 170w solar. I'm uunning that through a controller to two deep cycle marine batteries. We've got an electric cooler, a charging station and a pump for a (mostly) passive solar A/C system running off of that. I'm just hoping the batteries will last through the night, though the only thing running on them at that point will be what anyone is charging and whatever small draw the cooler will have at night.

This is for tent camping, btw, so I don't have quite as many power options of the folks in car camping.